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JUDGMENT WITH CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 894 OF 2005 & CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 142 OF 2006 B.N. AGRAWAL, J.

Sonia [A-1] and Sanjiv [A-2], respondents in Criminal Appeal No. 895 of 2005, were tried and convicted by the trial court under Section 302 read with Section 34 and Section 120-B of the Indian Penal Code [`IPC' for short] and sentenced to death and to pay a fine of Rs. 2000/- each. A-1 and A-2 were further convicted under Sections 25(1-B)(b) and 25(1-B(a) of the Arms Act respectively and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of one year. A-2 was further convicted under Section 201 IPC and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for three years and to pay a fine of Rs. 1000/- in default whereof to further undergo imprisonment for one month. The sentences were, however, ordered to run concurrently. Tried along with A-1 and A-2 were eight other accused persons but they were acquitted by the trial court for want of evidence. The order of convictions and sentences gave rise to a murder reference by the Sessions Judge, Hisar and appeals by both the accused before the Punjab & Haryana High Court. By the impugned judgment, while upholding their convictions under Section 302 read with Section 34 and Section 120-B of the IPC and other provisions, the High Court has commuted the sentence of death into life imprisonment. Hence these appeals by special leave. While Criminal Appeal Nos. 895 of 2005 and 894 of 2005 have been preferred by Ram Singh, brother of deceased  Relu Ram, and the State of Haryana respectively for enhancement of sentence from life imprisonment to death, Criminal Appeal No.142 of 2006 is by the accused assailing the impugned judgment of their convictions and sentences. The case of the prosecution is that on 23.8.2001 when Jeet Singh [PW 57], one of the employees of deceased - Relu Ram, and A-2 were sitting at the Saw Mill located by the side of Farm House of Relu Ram, a telephone call was received by A-2 from A-1 conveying her desire to celebrate Priyanka's [deceased sister of A-1] birthday at the Kothi at Litani Mor [place of occurrence] and that she would bring her from the hostel of Jindal School at Hisar  the school she was studying in. At about 9.30 p.m. A-1 along with Priyanka reached home in a jeep. Thereafter, between 11  12 p.m., on hearing some noise of footsteps, PW 57, who was present at the Farm House, woke up and noticed that light in the room, where the spare parts of tractors etc. were kept, was on and upon inquiry found that A-1 was there in the room and he saw her taking a rod to the first floor which rod is used for raising/tilting the tractor from the ground. He again heard the noise of explosion of fire works, but, thinking that Priyanka's birthday was being celebrated, he went to sleep. PW 57 further stated that on 24.8.2001 at about 4.45 a.m. when he was sitting on his cot, he saw A-1 coming down and taking the Jeep at a very fast speed and returning after half an hour. Thereafter, at about 5.30 a.m. Ram Phal, the Milk Vendor, brought milk, but on seeing him coming upstairs, A-1 instructed him to leave the milk on the ground floor. At about 6.15 a.m. the School Van came to take Lokesh [deceased], son of Sunil [deceased], but it left after waiting for some time as Lokesh did not come down despite blowing of horn. PW 57 thereafter sent Rohtas, another servant of Relu Ram, to the first floor for bringing Lokesh down for being dropped in the School on motor-cycle. Upon being called by Rohtas, PW 57 went to the first floor and found that A-1 was lying in the porch with froth coming out of her mouth and was mumbling that she be saved and Sanjiv [A-2] be called. Reaching inside the house, PW 57 found that Relu Ram [father], Krishna [mother], Sunil [brother], Shakuntala [sister-in-law], Priyanka @ Pamma [sister], Lokesh [nephew] and Shivani and Preeti [nieces] of A-1 had been murdered in different rooms. He also found that Shakuntla's hands and feet were tied with cot. The tractor rod that PW 57 had seen A-1 removing from the room on the previous night was lying on the bed of A-1. Noticing a letter [Suicide Note  Ext. 227] lying on the bed of A- 1 written in Hindi, PW 57 picked up the same and left for the Ulkana Police Station. While giving description of what had been seen by him at the place of occurrence and handing over the said Suicide Note to S.I. Vinod Kumar, PW 59, PW 57 also stated that it may be possible that A-1 under a conspiracy had either administered some poisonous substance or made them to inhale poisonous thing and upon becoming unconscious they had been murdered. It was further stated by him that about six months prior to this incident, A-1 with an intention to kill deceased Sunil had also fired a shot from the licensed gun of deceased Relu Ram over a dispute of property, but the matter was hushed up in the house. On the basis of sequence of events that had taken place at the place of occurrence from the evening of 23rd August until 24th morning, described by PW 57 to PW 59 and the Suicide Note alleged to have been written by A-1, FIR was registered in the Ulkana Police Station at 8.15 a.m. by PW 59 wherein contents of Suicide Note were also reproduced. On completion of the investigation, chargesheet was submitted against A-1, A-2 and eight other accused persons, cognizance taken and they were committed to the court of Sessions to face trial.

In the light of the above principle, which principle has been reiterated in a series of pronouncements of this Court, we proceed to ascertain whether the prosecution has been able to establish a chain of circumstances so as not to leave any reasonable ground for the conclusion consistent with the innocence of the accused.

The first circumstance in the chain is the presence of A-2 at Hisar. A-1 in her judicial confession made to PW.62 has stated that she along with A-2 had gone to the Jindal Public School to pick deceased Priyanka @ Pamma for celebrating her birthday at the Kothi at Litani Mor, the place of occurrence. A-1 has further stated that while they were returning, due to some altercation between A-1 and A-2 which ensued after Priyanka @ Pamma informed A-2 of infidelity that A-1 was having with someone, A-2 got down of the vehicle at Hisar and went away and did not return. That getting down of A-2 on the way after the altercation was a part of the plan hatched by A-1 and A-2 to give a slip to the investigating agency to mislead it, is discernable from the evidence of Paramjeet Singh, PW.12, who owns a Fast Food and Bakery Shop at Camp Chowk, Hisar. In his evidence, he has stated that on 23.8.2001, A-1 accompanied by a man and a girl visited his shop and that the accompanying girl was calling the man as "Jijaji". That A-2 did not alight from the vehicle on the way and was with A-1 all the time could be elicited from the statement of A-1 made to PW.62, relevant portion of which is reproduced below:

"At about 9 p.m. he [A-2] alighted from the vehicle at Hisar itself and started saying that he is having no need of her and I alone go to my home. I waited for 5/10 minutes that he would come back, but he did not turn up. After that I along with my sister came to our house at Punia Farm House  Kothi at Litani Mor. We reached at about 10.00 p.m. in the Kothi. This is the talk of night of 23.8.2001. We purchased six pastries from the shop of Hisar for home. We, the three ate two pastries on the shop itself.

We now turn to the third circumstance and i.e., A-2's clandestine exit from the place of occurrence. We once again turn to the judicial confession made by A-1 to PW.62 wherein she has admitted having left the place of occurrence in the morning of 24th August and returning to it after half an hour, which fact stands proved from the statements of PWs.57 and 58 as well. Head Constable Dharam Singh, PW.46, who was on patrolling duty at Surewala Chowk, has also stated in his testimony that he saw A-1 driving Tata Sumo at a very fast speed and going towards Narwana Chowk. There was no reason for A-1 to leave the place of occurrence in the morning of 24th August after having taken a decision to end her life by consuming poison. Her leaving the place of occurrence and coming back after half an hour to that very place lends further support to the evidence of PWs. 57 and 58. That she initially thought of ending her life in accident and that is why she left the place of occurrence in the morning in Tata Sumo and having decided against it on the way and returned to the place of occurrence after half an hour does not inspire confidence at all. Therefore, in the absence of any infirmity in the evidence of PWs. 57, 58 and 46, which evidence is supported by none other than A-1 in her judicial confession made to PW.62, the third circumstance stands also proved by the prosecution. In order to establish that A-1 had left the place of occurrence in the morning to take A-2 out therefrom in a clandestine way and leave her at a sufficient distance so as to be not seen by anyone, we have also been taken through the evidence of Head Constable Dharambir Singh [PW 46], conductor Jai Singh [PW.39], Rajesh Kumar [PW.55], Jai Dev Hans, [PW 45], Rajinder Parshad [PW 43] and K.A. Khan [PW 3]. PW. 46 in his testimony has stated that while he was on patrolling duty at Surewala Chock, he saw A-1 driving a vehicle at a very fast speed coming from Barwala side and going towards Narwana Chowk. PW.39, who was the conductor of the bus that was plying on Hisar to Yamuna Nagar route, in his testimony, has stated that on 24th August, 2001 Bus No. HR 39/7090 started its journey from Hisar at 5 A.M. and that when it reached near Jajanwala, A-2, who was wearing pant and bushirt with a bag in his hand, boarded the bus and that he took the ticket from him for Kaithal. He has further stated that A-2 alighted from the bus at Kaithal. A-2 has been identified by this witness in Court. Rajesh Kumar, PW.55, a taxi driver, in his testimony has stated that on